Grammar

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Passive Verbs:

Use of Passive

  • Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important/known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.
The focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.

  • Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice.

Example: A mistake was made.
I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + form of to be + past-tense verb
Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
  • the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
  • the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past-tense verb)
  • the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive

Tense
 Subject
 Verb
 Object
Simple Present
 Active:
 Rita
 writes
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 is written
 by Rita.
Simple Past
 Active:
 Rita
 wrote
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 was written
 by Rita.
Present Perfect
 Active:
 Rita
 has written
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 has been written
 by Rita.
Future I
 Active:
 Rita
 will write
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 will be written
 by Rita.

Further Examples

Tense
 Subject
 Verb
 Object
Present Progressive
 Active:
 Rita
 is writing
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 is being written
 by Rita.
Past Progressive
 Active:
 Rita
 was writing
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 was being written
 by Rita.
Past Perfect
 Active:
 Rita
 had written
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 had been written
 by Rita.
Future II
 Active:
 Rita
 will have written
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 will have been written
 by Rita.
Conditional I
 Active:
 Rita
 would write
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 would be written
 by Rita.
Conditional II
 Active:
 Rita
 would have written
 a letter.
Passive:
 A letter
 would have been written
 by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

 Subject
 Verb
 Object 1
 Object 2
Active:
 Rita
 wrote
 a letter
 to me.
Passive:
 A letter
 was written
 to me
 by Rita.
Passive:
 I
 was written
 a letter
 by Rita.
.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.

*Information above taken from English Grammar Online.

Passive Verbs Jeopardy Game/Quiz


Irregular Verbs

An irregular verb does not end with -ed in the past tense. Here are some examples of irregular verbs:
Swim - swam, swum
Sink - sank, sunk
Fall - fell, fallen

An irregular verb forms its past tense by:
1. changing consonants ex: make ---> made
2. changing vowels ex: run ---> ran
3. changing vowels and consonants ex: do ---> did
4. making no change ex: burst ---> burst



FUTURE TENSE VERBS

Two ways to write future tense:

  • "WILL"
  • "GOING TO"

Will Practice

The future verb "going to" is used in the following situations:
  1. Planned Events - ex: I am going to Mexico in a few days.
  2. Predictions- ex: The test next week is going to be really hard.
  3. Intentions- ex: I am going to be a rich person someday.

"Going to" pirate game

Song using the future tense "will"

Review/practice Make Your Own Future

Future activity

Adjectives

Practice

Articles
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